This is such hogwash -- I received an excellent, top-notch undergraduate education, did well academically (1999 grad) but lost my job during the crisis and haven't been able to find a job in 5 years - the 'education premium' is useless if the private sector is unwilling to hire the long-term unemployed and discriminates by only seeking employed people for open positions -- and the whole notion of tying an 'education premium' to income inequality doesn't work - I am a living and breathing example of that - what exactly has my 'education premium' given me or the millions of unemployed people just like me?

8:48 pm May 22, 2014

J Naman wrote:

The real premium in a real education -- high school or college -- is understanding that a real job is one you create yourself and not wait for some company or government to hire you. Start your own business!

11:50 pm May 22, 2014

M Smith wrote:

Yes - that's the far right attitude: because I haven't been able to find a job it MUST be my own fault! It can't possibly be the fault of the private sector or the fact that they won't hire the long-term unemployed! I must be doing SOMETHING wrong - so why don't I recklessly borrow money to start my own business! What a brilliant notion, especially given the fact that the vast majority of startups fail and I have no equity or assets to borrow against! brilliant thoughts, clearly J Naman you have this whole 'economics' and 'capital markets' 'thing' figured out? pls, tell me where learned such amazingly dumb-witted insights?!

10:06 am May 23, 2014

Gary Dee, Portland, Oregon wrote:

@M Smith - I understand your position, I know of many people who were highly educated, highly skilled and highly compensated who lost their jobs and have struggled to find a new position. There are no guarantees, but the fact remains that one has to be prepared for opportunities if and when they arise, and too many people are not properly equipped.

10:56 am May 23, 2014

Seventyandstilllearning wrote:

Learn how to learn, analyze, and expand your horizons and your self knowledge. Then study the job market using the skills acquired via your education. Odds are that you will be a happier and more productive person than those who go for the money and social status first. Most Eighteen year olds should attend podunk college, live at home, and spend at least 20 hours per week in the library, and take Summer jobs out of State. Graduate school is the way to play the certification game. Most Ivy league undergraduate schools do a poor job of both education or increasing your odds of admission to a top graduate school. As long as education and job training are confused, most of their customers will feel short changed. One of my most effective undergraduate professors declared that he hoped none of his students ever figured out a way to make a buck from anything that he taught them. An exaggeration surely, but an important attitude for an undergraduate to adopt.

11:30 am May 23, 2014

JW wrote:

This is yet another attempt to obfuscate the issue.

Look, anytime you see an argument about inequality based soely on INCOME, youre being messed with. The massive inequality IS centered in the 1%. The upper .5% have so much "Wealth" that most of the 99% cant even identify with or understand the difference. WEALTH creates return on capital, and hey, guess what, THAT ISNT INCOME. So if you only look at income, youre missing the point.

1:46 pm May 23, 2014

jr wrote:

the 1% got where they are today not because they have more educations. the reason they are there because they have more $ to begin with. most college grads in the us probably make earned income in the range of 50k to 100k a year. some in the six figures and few in the seven figures. if you have money to begin with your interest income will surpass your erred income. don't bet that college degree will make you more earned income. it might give you better opportunity.

1:56 pm May 23, 2014

Rich Gimmel wrote:

These college vs. high school earnings comparisons are, at best, misleading. Our own analysis indicates that a journeyman machinist with a high school education and apprenticeship will out-earn the average college graduate by $960,000 over a 40-year career. I can hire college graduates all day long, but I can't find machinists who earn an average of $70k.

High school education or college education -- it doesn't matter. The real issue is whether you have marketable skills.

2:50 pm May 23, 2014

Dr. A wrote:

Pitting one group of wage earners against another group of wage earners is absolutely obfuscating the issue. Especially in this case, where the workers are earning wages in the same order of magnitude.

The 99% vs 1% discussion is not about income and it is not about wage. Its about those who work for money and those who have money work for them, and the ability of money to create wealth far more effectively than workers can create wealth.

Workers and wage earners (the "99%"), whether school teachers or neurosurgeons, are all in the same boat. In the present economic environment, works can never out compete the indefatigable ability of money to produce more money, passively. Those with large amounts of capital available to them (the portion of the 1% we care about) passively wield more wealth generating power than any worker, no matter how productive, possibly can.

Capital doesn't care what level of education you obtained, it will give you the same passive return either way.

3:09 pm May 23, 2014

Cindy wrote:

Dr. A, I totally agree with your summation. Why are these pieces always comparing W-2 income when the real subject is capital ownership? Can you imagine the disparity of 1099 comparisons? (and don't forget the tax free income)

12:55 pm May 24, 2014

Mike wrote:

For those making comments about the 1%, this article wasn't trying to address the 1% issue. There are always cases of high school grads out-earning college grads, but statistically, college grads out-earn high school grads. Is that really surprising?

@MSmith: I feel for you. Fortunately, I haven't had to deal with your situation but I know what it is like because my father always had issues finding new jobs after layoffs and then he suffered from age discrimination later in life.

I think that it is worth stating that some of the long term unemployment in the US is caused because people today are not moving around either because they don't want to or because they can't because of the housing crisis.

5:27 pm May 24, 2014

gayle davis wrote:

When you factor in the cost of a college education, including interest, the difference in net income between HS and college grads is probably zero.

10:05 am May 25, 2014

Andrew wrote:

While different look there are similar observations on xenophoncomments.blogspot.com

8:11 am May 27, 2014

Christine wrote:

What this and so many other studies completely ignore are the many people with 2 year Associate's degrees and apprenticeships. Many of these degrees lead to good paying fields in IT, civil engineering, construction, nursing, etc. Despite my college degree, I personally have lost out on jobs to people with 2 year degrees that come with the hands on practical aspect you just don't get from a liberal arts institution. It is tiring to see academics repeatedly try to prove that the only path to success is the one they took when doing so requires ignoring an entire swath of the population.

8:57 am June 2, 2014

Al Connelly wrote:

Since many people are either not intelligent enough or just don't want t go to college, the equalitarian thing to do is to close all colleges. This will also save tons of money. And it will cut by 4 years the amount of time young people receive Progressive Statist indoctrination from the college faculties.
Really, we are already on the path by dumbing down colleges, matching the dumbed down K-12 system. But this is a terrible waste of money. So why bother with any of it?

12:23 pm June 9, 2014

Tom Topar wrote:

Having been in business for a long time and being very observant I have found people that are successful have more than any school can teach. Most had a mentor or parents that encouraged a work ethic. Used any skills they had early in their lives to test the waters in finding and growing in a job. The successful weren't clock watchers or "it isn't my job " types. They considered a job a opportunity to show their skills and values to their employer or their customers.

5:39 pm June 10, 2014

RogerB34 wrote:

"The income gap among the 99%, he says, is due to rising earnings of college-educated workers as well as declining real earnings of workers with high-school degrees."
The gap occurs because the economy is flat. 2008 If I can't fix the economy in three more years...
2013 GDP is 1.9 percent and the benchmark 1930 - 1999 is 3.7 percent per year. We have Depression era economic performance masked by Fed print and Federal debt. We the People have elected government economic management and are getting government economic management performance. Meaning the 99 percent are not going to find good paying jobs. Trickle up based on social justice and redistribution doesn't work just as it did not during the Great Depression. We the People in majority are clueless and will vote for more of the same just as they did then. Then Tojo came calling.

2:10 am June 11, 2014

Tom Shillock wrote:

I do not understand how Autor can see his work as a riposte to Piketty's work. Perhaps his work is being too overshadowed by Piketty's for his liking?

11:07 am June 13, 2014

Adam1234 wrote:

I agree and disagree with Autor. Yes, education is driving the gap and needs more attention than the 1%/99% gap. But there could still be a rising college bubble when you isolate STEM/Finance/Accounting grads from all other grads. Essentially all students pay for the same human capital but STEM et al get a much better return. This problem is aggravated if one could also show that the number of non-STEM degrees is rising faster than the share of STEM degrees awarded each year.

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